If you don't live near warm ocean or a water park you may not have seen seahorses or sea dragons to understand how amazing these tiny creatures are. Their long, elongated heads, like those of a horse, give them an almost mythical image. In reality, they are not immortal, and besides, many die during the storm. Sea “horses” hide with the help of excellent camouflage; long spines and ribbon-like outgrowths make them invisible in their natural underwater environment.

Seahorses range in size from 2 to 20 centimeters. Sea Horses how leafy sea dragons and pipefish bear their offspring in special pouches where the female spawns. The burden of maternal care falls on. With such entertaining and interesting facts , as well as amazing photos of seahorses we invite you to familiarize yourself.

Seahorses (Hippocampus) - gentle and beautiful creatures get their names from the ancient Greek "hippo", which means "horse" and "campos" - " sea ​​monsters" The genus Hippocampus includes 54 species of marine fish.
The spotted seahorse in the photo is 15 centimeters long and lives up to four years.

A spectacular rainbow seahorse in Hamburg, Germany.

Leafy sea dragons at Georgia Aquarium. Sea “monsters” live off the southern coast of Australia and are masters of camouflage. Seemingly harmless sea ​​Dragon a real predator - it feeds on small fish and shrimp.

The weedy sea dragon is endangered. With their small tubular snouts, relatives of seahorses suck up tiny prey, sometimes including various debris.

Leafy sea dragons at Birch Aquarium, San Diego, California. They can grow up to 35 cm in length. When the males are ready to mate, their leafy tails turn bright yellow.

Black Sea seahorse rare sight in shallow waters, Romania.

Leafy sea dragon in an aquarium, Atlanta. In nature, they live in the tropical coastal waters of South and Western Australia.

Spiny seahorse(Hippocampus histrix) gets its name from the spines protruding from it. Usually lives in - from 3 to 80 meters. One of the largest species of seahorses and can grow up to 17 cm.

Seahorse at the Oregon Aquarium. Sea Horses are not good swimmers. The other is the only species of fish where the males carry unborn offspring.

Weed sea dragon near seaweed, Sydney, Australia. Brown algae and reefs provide them with good camouflage and protection from predators.

At first glance, seahorses appear to be pregnant, but they are not. Bellied seahorses(Hippocampus abdominalis) is a separate species and one of the largest, can reach a length of 35 cm.

The spiny seahorse, like most of its fellows, is in danger of extinction. Human appetite for exotic fish is growing, which is why pipits have been added to the list of protected fish under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Leafy sea dragons, like their relatives, weed dragons, are very caring fathers. They bear their offspring on themselves. The fry that are born immediately become independent.

Pipefish another distant relative of seahorses. This creature has a longer, straighter body with tiny mouths.

Another of the seahorse relatives at the Wilhelm Zoo, Germany.

Macro photographs of gray and yellow seahorses at Zurich Zoo. When eating or interacting with other relatives, these fish make a “clicking” sound.

Seem like there is love between them...

Leafy sea dragons dance at the Dallas Aquarium. The only working fins are on the chest and back, so sea dragons are not very fast - 150 meters per hour. Individuals were observed that spent up to 68 hours in one place.

A pygmy seahorse provides excellent camouflage against soft corals near Cebu, Philippines. Pygmies reach maximum length 2.4 cm. Residential zone from southern Japan to Northern Australia in reef areas at a depth of 10-40 meters.

Pipefish - Solenostomus paradoxus - off the coast of Thailand. Close relatives of seahorses are various colors and sizes, from 2.5 to 50 cm.

Excellent camouflage.

Weedy sea dragons close up. Left: Shelly Beach weed dragon, Australia, right: eggs on male dragons.

Morning mating dances of seahorses.

The skinny body of the weed dragon “flies” through the water. The body of the sea dragon and its color develops based on the environment and food.

The skinny and toothless pipefish has a snake-like body.

Seahorses are voracious. The absence of a stomach and teeth forces them to constantly feed. In this regard, they consume up to 50 shrimp per day.

Before mating, the courtship ritual of seahorses lasts several days. Few couples stay together for life; most stay together only during the mating season.

Nature miracle.

Perfection of nature.

Close-up

Friendly family.

Schultz's pipefish - Corythoichthys schultzi - in Egypt.

Different types of seahorses and dragons.

Seahorses are the slowest sea fish.

Only 1% of fry grow to adulthood.

Seahorses are masters of camouflage.

The pygmy pipit is one of the smallest vertebrates in the world against a backdrop of soft corals.

Stunning shot: a kiss between lovers.

The beauty of a leafy sea dragon.

The pipefish family includes: seahorses, pipefish, leafy and weedy sea dragons.

Spiny seahorse.

The proud loneliness of a seahorse.

Close-up.

Curiosity.

Seahorse - fish small sizes, which is a representative of the Needle family from the Stickleback order. Research has shown that the seahorse is a highly modified pipefish. Today the seahorse is a rather rare creature. In this article you will find a description and photo of a seahorse and learn a lot of new and interesting things about this extraordinary creature.

The seahorse looks very unusual and its body shape resembles chess piece horse The seahorse fish has many long bony spines and various leathery projections on its body. Thanks to this body structure, the seahorse appears unnoticed among the algae and remains inaccessible to predators. The seahorse looks amazing, it has small fins, its eyes rotate independently of each other, and its tail is curled into a spiral. The seahorse looks diverse, because it can change the color of its scales.

The seahorse looks small, its size depends on the species and varies from 4 to 25 cm. In the water, the seahorse swims vertically, unlike other fish. This is due to the fact that the seahorse’s swim bladder consists of an abdominal and a head part. The head bladder is larger than the abdominal one, which allows the seahorse to maintain an upright position when swimming.

Now the seahorse is becoming increasingly rare and is on the verge of extinction due to a rapid decline in numbers. There are many reasons for the disappearance of the seahorse. The main one is the destruction by humans of both the fish itself and its habitats. Off the coast of Australia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, pipits are being caught en masse. The exotic appearance and bizarre body shape are the reason why people began to make gift souvenirs from them. For beauty, the tail is artificially arched and the body is given the shape of the letter “S”, but in nature skates do not look like that.

Another reason that contributes to the decline in the seahorse population is that they are a delicacy. Gourmets highly value the taste of these fish, especially the eyes and liver of seahorses. In a restaurant, the cost of one serving of such a dish costs $800.

In total, there are about 50 species of seahorses, 30 of which are already listed in the Red Book. Luckily, seahorses are very fertile and can produce over a thousand young at a time, keeping the seahorses from going extinct. Seahorses are bred in captivity, but this fish is very demanding to keep. One of the most extravagant seahorses is the rag-picker seahorse, which you can see in the photo below.

The seahorse lives in tropical and subtropical seas. The seahorse fish lives mainly at shallow depths or near the shore and leads a sedentary lifestyle. The seahorse lives in dense thickets of algae and other marine vegetation. It attaches itself to plant stems or corals with its flexible tail, remaining almost invisible due to its body covered with various projections and spines.

The seahorse fish changes body color to completely blend in with environment. In this way, the seahorse successfully camouflages itself not only from predators, but also while foraging for food. The seahorse is very bony, so few people want to eat it. The main hunter of the seahorse is the large land crab. The seahorse can travel long distances. To do this, it attaches its tail to the fins of various fish and hangs on them until the “free taxi” swims into the algae thickets.

What do seahorses eat?

Seahorses eat crustaceans and shrimp. Seahorses eat very interestingly. The tubular stigma, like a pipette, draws prey into the mouth along with water. Seahorses eat quite a lot and hunt almost the whole day, taking short breaks of a couple of hours.

Seahorses eat about 3 thousand planktonic crustaceans per day. But seahorses eat almost any food, as long as it does not exceed the size of their mouth. The seahorse fish is a hunter. With its flexible tail, the seahorse clings to the algae and remains motionless until the prey is in the required proximity to the head. After which the seahorse absorbs water along with food.

How do seahorses reproduce?

Seahorses reproduce in a rather unusual way, because their young are carried by the male. Seahorses often have monogamous pairs. The mating season of seahorses is an amazing sight. A couple who are about to enter into a marriage union are held together by their tails and dance in the water. During the dance, the skates press against each other, after which the male opens a special pocket in the abdominal area, into which the female throws eggs. Subsequently, the male bears offspring for a month.

Seahorses reproduce quite often and produce large offspring. A seahorse gives birth to one thousand or more young at a time. The fry are born an absolute copy of the adults, only very tiny. The babies that are born are left to their own devices. In nature, a seahorse lives for about 4-5 years.

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Hello, my dear young readers and wise parents! In the "Projects" section new topic! "ShkolaLa" helps prepare a report about the seahorse. Whatever class you are in primary school, a report about this inhabitant of the sea will be an indispensable highlight in a lesson on the surrounding world. Read it and you will understand why.

Lesson plan:

What kind of animal is a seahorse?

This aquatic resident with an extraordinary appearance does not at all look like a fish. But in fact, it belongs to the needle-shaped fish family. Most of all, he looks like a chess piece, which is why he was probably nicknamed that.

The body is crocheted, the back is humped, the abdomen is forward. Yes, and he has a horse’s head, and his mouth, elongated into a tube, resembles a muzzle, and when he moves he relies on a tail curled into a ring.

Why not a miniature horse!

This fish is also called a dragon, since many species really resemble this fairy-tale character with their wings spread to the sides, except that there are not three heads, but only one!

In total, there are up to 50 species of seahorses, the size of which can be up to 30 centimeters. But the smallest of them is a dwarf, he is only 2 centimeters tall. Almost 30 species are listed in the Red Book.

This is interesting! Scientists' research has proven that the seahorse's closest relative is the needle fish, from which it separated as much as 23 million years ago! Today, the fish has preserved numerous long spines from its ancestor.

Where can you see a seahorse? He lives in the tropics and subtropics. His home is a thicket of algae and Coral reefs Black Sea, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, the coasts of Australia, the Japanese Yellow Sea and the Russian Azov Sea.

This is interesting! Seahorses are excellent at playing hide and seek and master the art of camouflage to perfection. They have special cells - chromatophores, which color the skate to match its environment. At the same time, you can only see an aquatic chameleon by its nose sticking out of the algae.

Most often, miniature horses are brown, yellowish or green in color, but those that live among corals are red and purple. Like a Christmas tree decoration they hang in sea ​​depths such tips, caught by the tail on the plants.

How do seahorses swim?

It is difficult to call a seahorse a fish also because it does not swim like everyone else. Its body is located vertically in the water. The swim bladder running along the body helps him maintain balance. It is divided into two parts: the head is larger than the abdominal, so the skate swims upright.

By changing the volume of gas in the bubble, the fish cruises, rising upward and also plunging to depth. If something happens to the skate's bladder, it has no choice but to lie still until it dies.

This is interesting! Dwarf representatives are the slowest fish in the world. They move, as they say, “a teaspoon per hour” - only one and a half meters in 60 minutes.

The tail of the fish is very flexible and without fins; the seahorse uses it like an anchor, clinging to corals and plants. By the way, he can hug his girlfriend with it.

But it cannot row using its tail. For this purpose, there is a movable fin on the back and a pair of pectoral fins.

Given this structure, the seahorse is a poor swimmer, and he strives to compete, spending most of his time in a suspended state, looking around.

What's on the seahorse's menu?

The water horse feeds on plankton - small crustaceans, which it tracks by actively rotating its eyes. The fish's tiny mouth is located at the end of its tube-like muzzle.

As soon as the food approaches the little hunter, he puffs out his cheeks and, like a vacuum cleaner, strongly sucks up the crustaceans.

This is interesting! These fish have neither teeth nor stomach. Their digestive organs are like a ramjet engine that constantly needs to be refueled.

Tiny horses can hang around for up to 10 hours waiting for food, they don’t really need to hunt, just sit in one place and lunch floats by. Moreover, as we already understood, he is not much of a swimmer. So in a day a lazy glutton eats up to 3.5 thousand crustaceans.

Pregnant dads

Yes, yes, we were not mistaken! This is exactly the only case when pregnancy is not a woman’s business. In seahorses, males bear their offspring! For this purpose, the male has a kangaroo-like pouch on his abdomen, where the eggs are laid.

Of these, up to 1,500 miniature seahorses appear after 40 days.

This is interesting! Sea Horse- the only fish that has a neck.

But all these days, the frivolous mother visits her friend only in the morning, blithely sailing away after five minutes of the meeting until the next day to go about her business. Or maybe forget about him completely!

Even after birth, dad takes care of the offspring: at the first danger, he gives them a signal, and they instantly hide safely in his bag.

Do seahorses have enemies?

Although the body of a seahorse is covered with a hard bony shell and spines, and the fish is too tough for most, it can become dinner for crabs or stingrays.

However, the biggest danger for him is man. The unique appearance of the fish and its beneficial features became the reason for mass fishing.

Seahorses are caught for souvenirs, for preparing expensive oriental dishes and for medicinal purposes.

This is interesting! When searching for food, as well as for vigilance, these fish manage to look with both eyes at the same time. different sides. And their visual organs can look like this: one is forward, and the other controls what is happening behind.

They try to keep exotic seahorses in aquariums, but they do not adapt well to the artificial environment. If nothing threatens the fish, then it can live up to 5 years.

This is how we briefly talked about an amazing creature with the body of a horse, the pouch of a kangaroo, the rotating eyes of a chameleon and the prehensile tail of a monkey.

I hope you will interest the whole class with your story. And for clarity, print out photographs of these exotic fish or, if possible, show them this video. Let the kids see that they are truly unique.

See you again on the “ShkolaLa” blog and in the “Projects” section

Good luck in your studies!

Evgenia Klimkovich

Among unusual fish, the seahorse is particularly unusual: it is difficult to recognize it as a fish. Let's talk a little about seahorses - how are they different from their other brothers from the class of fish?

Almost all fish swim the same way: the body is located horizontally and in the direction of movement. In seahorses, when swimming, the body is vertical, or slightly tilted forward. The strange way in which seahorses position their bodies when swimming is associated with the structure of these fish.

Fins and swim bladder

In most fish we see several fins: dorsal, caudal, anal, paired abdominal and paired pectoral. Seahorses have half as many fins: they have only three fins that help them move in the water:

• A very small fan-shaped dorsal fin is necessary for forward locomotion.
• Tiny pectoral fins help maintain vertical balance and control movement.

The swim bladder helps them support their body vertically. It is located along the entire body, its front part extends into the head, which is typical only for this fish.

The swim bladder is divided into two parts. The volume of the head part of the bladder is noticeably larger than the abdominal part. It is this structure of the swim bladder that contributes to the vertical position of the skate when swimming. The seahorse is designed like a float: top part the torso is lighter than the lower one. The center of gravity is shifted downwards - to the tail part of the body, so the head is lighter and is located at the top.

Reproduction: Ritual morning greetings and male color changes

How seahorses reproduce - the incredible and strange uniqueness of this amazing fish. The male and female seem to have switched roles - the male carries and gives birth to the cubs. Scientists learned about this quite recently - in the last century.

Before talking about reproduction, you need to pay attention to the external integument of the seahorses:

• The body of seahorses is covered on top with bony plates that form very strong, spiny armor. This is a real shell that is difficult to break even in dead fish.
• The female's body is completely covered with bony plates, while the male has no plates at the base of the abdomen. Because here is a voluminous leathery pocket in which he bears his offspring.

Reproduction of seahorses living in tropical seas has interesting features in behavior. Early in the morning, males perform ritual greetings: each male swims around his chosen one, as if demonstrating readiness to reproduce. It was noted that at these moments the male’s shell in the chest area is colored dark color. With his head bowed, he moves in circles around the female, his tail slightly touching the bottom.

What about the female? She reacts to this behavior of the male - she begins to spin around herself after the male, but does not move from her place. During the breeding season, the greeting ritual is repeated every morning. Having completed this peculiar dance, the couple begins to have breakfast. The fish remain in a limited area and try to keep each other in sight. The closer the moment of mating, the longer the greeting ritual becomes and can even last the whole day.

In temperate latitudes, male seahorses during the breeding season inflate their leathery pouch so that the skin becomes very stretched and becomes almost white.

Mating and spawning

We continue to explore the process of how seahorses reproduce and how mating occurs:

• Mating requires that the male and female mature at the same time.
• On the day of mating, during the greeting ritual, at a certain moment the female sharply raises her head and swims upward.
• The male moves after her. At this moment, the female’s ovipositor is clearly visible, and the male’s pouch opens wide.
• The female directs the ovipositor into the wide opening of the pouch and lays eggs there.
• The process of laying eggs occurs in several stages, each lasting a few seconds. The female lays eggs until the bag is completely filled (it can hold more than 600 eggs).

If one of the partners is not ready, spawning is interrupted and the whole process begins again. The number of eggs laid usually depends on the size of the male and the type of fish. Different species produce from 30 - 60 eggs to 500 or more per spawning. For example, a long-snouted seahorse: an aged 10-12 centimeter female can lay more than 650 eggs.

Let's talk a little about male seahorses:

• The male's readiness to mate is also manifested in a change in the internal state of the skin of the pocket: from the inside it becomes like a sponge filled with blood vessels.
• A large number of blood vessels with inside bags plays an important role in the development of eggs. This is an amazing feature of the structure of male seahorses!

When the eggs are laid and the pouch is completely filled with “priceless cargo,” the future daddy horse swims away with an inflated pocket, becoming like a unique “living stroller” filled with cubs.

The birth of small hippocampuses - seahorses

After 1-2 months, tiny fry are born - exact copies of their parents. The male squeezes his offspring through a special hole in the pouch. When pushing out the last baby, the father fish can sometimes experience very strong and noticeable “birth pangs.” Therefore, the birth of babies is a very exhausting process for the male.

Immediately after birth, seahorse fry become independent because they do not receive any help from their parents. They begin to feed immediately after leaving the pouch. U different types Different behavioral strategies are observed: the fry of some species move with the flow, while others remain in the place of birth.

Are seahorses monogamous?

For a long time it was believed that seahorses are monogamous - they mate with one permanent partner.

It is likely that early naturalists who observed this behavior in one or two species concluded that it was characteristic of all seahorses. Over time, observations by both amateur aquarists and ichthyologists have proven that this is a myth. Seahorses are not at all monogamous.

British ichthyologists studied the sexual behavior of seahorses of different species and saw that individual individuals can “flirt” with 25 different partners during the day. For example, only five pairs of British spiny seahorses were faithful to each other, but twelve pairs were not.

In the home aquarium, there have also been cases where a male accepted eggs from two females at the same time. It is likely that similar behavior during reproduction can be observed in nature too.

Signs of courtship in seahorses include color changes, synchronized swimming, and intertwining of tails.

Menu of seahorses in nature and in the aquarium

What do seahorses eat in the wild? Their food is tiny zooplankton (crustaceans). By type of feeding they are ambush predators:

• Having a camouflage camouflage, its tail caught in the algae, the fish stands vertically in the water and tracks down its prey.
• Having noticed the crustacean, the horse examines it for a couple of seconds, rolling its eyes in a funny way.
• Then he inflates his cheeks, so high pressure is created in his mouth.
• And immediately, like a vacuum cleaner, he pulls the crustacean into his mouth and swallows it.
• Prey can be retracted from a distance of 4 cm.

Seahorses feed up to 10 hours a day and can eat more than 3,000 thousand brine shrimp. In the aquarium, these voracious fish willingly eat shrimp, live and frozen mysids, artemia, daphnia, and bloodworms. It is recommended to feed them twice a day daily, and the food should be varied. On some brine shrimp, pipits may feel hungry.

The place of the seahorse in the fish system, the Red Book and 2 hryvnia

Seahorses - small sea ​​fish, ranging in size from 2 to 30 cm. They belong to the type of chordates, to the subtype of vertebrates, to the superclass of fish - class bony fish and the subclass of ray-finned fish, to the order of sticklebacks, the needle family, the genus seahorses. The closest relatives of seahorses are pipefish, in which the male also bears the offspring.

Seahorses are currently on the verge of extinction. Many species are listed in the Red Book, for example the long-snouted seahorse from the Black Sea. This horse is depicted on a coin with a face value of 2 hryvnia, which was issued by the National Bank of Ukraine.

The massive catch of these exotic fish for making souvenirs has led to their complete disappearance in the Black Sea recreation areas. And since 1994, the Black Sea population of this species is listed in the Red Book of Ukraine, and its catching is prohibited.

Children really like seahorses. Make a “Seahorse” bookmark with your child and study the features while completing a creative task appearance this amazing fish.

Seahorses are very peculiar fish with an extraordinary appearance and interesting biology. They belong to the spiny family of the order Stickleback. This affiliation is not accidental, because seahorses, one might say, are the brothers of others interesting fish- sea needles. There are 50 known species of seahorses, several of the largest species are called sea dragons.

Grass sea dragon, or ragpiper (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus).

The appearance of seahorses is so unusual that at first glance it is difficult to recognize them as fish. The body of the skates is bizarrely curved, the back sticks out with a hump, the abdomen also protrudes forward, the front part of the body is thin and curved like the neck of a horse (hence the name). The head is small, its front part is elongated like a tube, the eyes are bulging. The tail of seahorses is long and very flexible, calm state fish twist it into a ring or wrap their tail around the stems of aquatic plants. The body of skates is covered with various thickenings, knobs, outgrowths and similar decorations. The coloring of these fish is often monochromatic, but different species are colored very differently. In any case, the coloring of each species very accurately imitates the color and texture of the surface on which this horse lives. Pipits living among aquatic plants are often brown, yellowish, and green; Pipits living among corals can be red, bright yellow, or purple.

Seahorses are fluent in the art of camouflage.

In addition, each fish can change its hue to some extent. Seahorses are small fish, their size varies from 2 to 20 cm.

The smallest species, the dwarf seahorse (Hippocampus bargibanti), is only 2 cm long. It is completely indistinguishable from coral branches.

These fish live in tropical and subtropical zones. Their range encircles the entire globe. Seahorses live in shallow waters among thickets seaweed or among the corals. These are sedentary and generally very sedentary fish. Typically, seahorses wrap their tail around a branch of coral or a tuft of sea grass and spend most of their time in this position. But large sea dragons do not know how to attach to vegetation. On short distances they swim holding their body vertically; if they have to leave the “home”, they can swim in an almost horizontal position. They swim slowly. In general, the character of these fish is surprisingly calm and meek; seahorses do not show aggression towards their fellow fish and other fish.

The intricately decorated leafy sea dragon (Phycodurus eques) is indistinguishable from its surroundings.

They feed on plankton. They track the smallest crustaceans by rolling their eyes funny. As soon as the prey approaches the miniature hunter, the seahorse inflates its cheeks, creating negative pressure in the mouth and sucks up the crustacean like a vacuum cleaner. Despite their small size, skates are big eaters and can indulge in gluttony for up to 10 hours a day.

Seahorses are monogamous fish; they live in married pairs, but can periodically change partners. It is characteristic that these fish carry eggs, with males and females changing roles. IN mating season in females, a tube-shaped ovipositor grows, and in the male, thickened folds in the tail area form a pouch. Before spawning, partners perform a long mating dance.

Spawning pair of seahorses.

The female lays eggs in the male's pouch and he carries them for about 2 weeks. Newborn fry emerge from the pouch through a narrow opening. Sea dragons do not have a pouch and hatch eggs on the stem of their tail. The fertility of different species ranges from 5 to 1500 fry. Newborn fish are completely independent and move away from the parent pair.

Eggs on the tail of a sea dragon.

Currently, many species of seahorses have become very rare, and some are even on the verge of extinction. This is facilitated by the massive catch of these fish and their low fertility. Seahorses are caught for meat, which is used in the cooking of eastern countries and in oriental medicine. In addition, souvenirs made from dried seahorses are very popular. It is not very easy to keep seahorses in aquariums; they are demanding of food and are susceptible to disease, but it is very interesting to watch them.

The leafy sea dragon broods the eggs.

how a male seahorse gives birth to fry.